when the morning comes
by FangirlSupreme
Summary: In which Robbie helps Daisy pull through hell, high school and a house that feels nowhere close to home. Quakerider high school AU.
1. Chapter 1

He picks her up behind the school, where mold and vines grow on the faded bricks and stoners gather to smoke, but at this hour, it's just them and the waning silver moon in the sky. She's waiting for him, leaning up against the brick wall, and the headlights illuminate her figure in the dead night. The halo of light would make her look like an angel if it weren't for the way she's dressed in black from head to toe. Perhaps fallen angel would be a more apropos description.

She opens the passenger's side door, sliding into the seat and settling in like she belongs there, which of course she does. She's so close but still too far away for comfort as she looks over at him and tries to smile, but he knows that it's only her trying (and failing) to convince the both of them that she's okay.

The air between them pulses with unsaid words as he drives, stealing looks at her whenever he can. Her bottom lip is marred with a cut that practically glows crimson in the passing haze of the yellow streetlights, and her jawline is tinged with bruising. His hands tighten on the steering wheel when he sees it, grateful for the gloves that hide his whitened knuckles from her gaze.

He pulls into the driveway of his house, taking care to be as quiet as possible as they both get out of the car. He peers at the window of the living room, and can see the blue glow of the television through the pale curtains, conveying that entry through the front door is not an option. He only needs to glance back at her for her to understand and she follows him around the outside walls of the house.

He finds the window to his bedroom, and removes the makeshift prop of a textbook from earlier, pushing up the frame and glass. She climbs in with a quiet and practiced grace and he follows, taking less care than her not to tread on the sheets of his bed, which sits right under the windowsill. He replaces the textbook, and gently closes the window on it, and pulls the curtains closed. His math teacher would probably kill him if she knew what he was doing to the book, but what she doesn't know won't kill her, he thinks.

"Thanks, Robbie." Her voice is quiet and a bit coarse from not speaking, and he looks up at her where she sits on the mattress, legs crossed and shoulders slumping forward, her dark eyes bright in the ever-present moonlight.

"Always, _chica,"_ he replies, tucking her hair behind her ear before capturing her chin in his hand, fingers skimming feather-light over the bruises. She winces, ever so slightly, enough that he drops his hand and makes a path for the door to steal into the kitchen without saying a word, unzipping his jacket and draping it over his desk chair on his way out. She doesn't question it; they've been here enough times for this to become routine.

He passes through the living room, taking care to be as silent as possible. The television continues to drone on, some old western playing as his brother, Gabe, sleeps on the couch, open textbooks and notebook paper scattered across the coffee table.

Robbie moves on into the brightly lit kitchen, pulling open the freezer door and taking out an ice pack, feeling the cold through his gloves while listening for any complications. Fortunately, there aren't any other sounds apart from the T.V. and Gabe's breathing and he's grateful that Uncle Eli is still at work. The more discrete they are and the less his uncle knows, the better.

At least, that's what she thinks.

* * *

When he slips back into the bedroom, she's still sitting on his bed, motionless and gazing out the window through the haze of the curtains even though there's nothing there but a moonlit sky, a lawn that needs mowing and a chain-link fence. Her fingers travel along the seams of the quilt that lays on it, and Daisy remembers Robbie telling her that his grandmother had made it right before he was born. The mattress dips a bit under his weight as he carefully settles next to her so as not to startle her and she turns her head back to face him. He holds out the ice pack in offering, and she takes it with a smile, pressing it to the bruises on her jawline, reveling in the way the sudden chill chases away all other emotion for a split second.

"You okay?" he asks, his voice rough.

She shrugs, her shoulders rising and falling a fraction of an inch. "As okay as I can be right now," she answers, her voice equally uneven due to their silence.

"What happened?" he says gently, pulling off his gloves and tossing them on top of his jacket, stripping away the last of his day-to-day armor. He asks this question every time, and after so many times the ' _you don't have to answer if you don't want to'_ s and the ' _it's okay if you just want to be somewhere else'_ s no longer need to be spoken, but they're still there, in the softness in his eyes and the air between them like so many other things.

"The usual," she replies tonelessly, her way of saying she'd rather not elaborate, because 'the usual' can range from a variety of things, from her foster brothers being assholes to getting in the way during a drinking binge.

Robbie understands, and all possible responses have already taken to the night air a long time ago, so he stays quiet, his way of letting her go on, should she want to.

The chill of the ice pack becomes a gentle burn, and since she's had enough pain today, she sets the ice pack down on the blanket next to her and fiddles with her hands, noticing her fingertips colored pink from the cold, shaking slightly.

Robbie takes her hands in his, and there's something unfailingly comforting about the calluses on his skin and the way his thumb caresses her knuckles, and Daisy finds herself falling a little farther every time.

* * *

"It won't be much longer, Daisy," he says softly, lacing his fingers through hers.

"I know," she says, staring down at their intertwined hands. "I just…" She lets out a deep breath, and it sounds like her soul is leaving her along with that sigh. "I just don't know how to look forward anymore," she confesses, not meeting his eyes, and his heart twists a bit at her admission.

To see her like this, it's a stark contrast from the girl he sees in the hallways during the week, and it's times like these when he wonders how many of her earlier smiles are false, and when he wishes he could do more to make them real.

"It'll get better," he assures her, trying to convince himself as well as her. "This is it. Once next year's over, you'll be out of the system, and we'll be able to work things out." They've been over this before, practically counting down the days to when she's no longer at the mercy of social services, to when she can leave the foster home and live somewhere better, though still in reach of each other.

Her eyes remain downcast, so he tilts her chin up to meet her gaze. "I mean it," he says. "Uncle Eli just got this engineering job at some stuffy energy lab, so things are definitely looking up. I mean, I still gotta work at Canelo's, but I don't have to drop out anymore."

A small smile curves her lips. "Seriously? You can stay in school?"

He nods, and her smile grows a little wider, and he's relieved to see it's real. "That's great, Robbie," she says genuinely, and her fingers curl around his a little tighter.

He shrugs in an effort to downplay it all, but he won't deny that Uncle Eli's newest job has lifted a sizable burden from his shoulders. "Yeah, it's pretty great," he says. "Now I just have to keep my grades up to graduate." It feels odd, playing optimist, as that's usually a role he lets Gabe star in. Daisy used to have a lot more positivity, but her reserves have dipped considerably in comparison to when he first met her.

"I'll help you if you need it," she promises, and he grins at the way her eyes seem to glow a little brighter.

"See what I mean, though? It's going to get better, it always does." His thumb brushes across her cheek, and he leans forward to press a gentle kiss to the bruises on her jawline.

"I hope so," she whispers softly, almost as if she's divulging some sort of forbidden secret, like it's dangerous for her to wish for anything anymore, and when she kisses him under the watchful eye of the moonlight, he hopes that his words are more than an idealized dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Daisy doesn't sleep much anymore, not since she moved to her current foster home, where there are four other kids, all bonded by blood (though not by much else) and parents that make her question the legitimacy of social services' vetting programs. If she's learned anything from the Ward family, it's keep your head down and don't start anything. Get dragged into something, and it's like being thrown to the lions.

Right now, though, she's not in the lions' den, and that's all that matters at the moment.

The high-pitched, tinny beeping of the digital alarm is what wakes her, not the sound of her foster brother crying, or the creaking of a floorboard that can lead down so many undesirable paths. There's a blissfully normal feeling to waking up to an alarm, and she pushes away acknowledging the fact that this isn't a feeling she should get used to.

Robbie stirs a bit at the sounding of the alarm, an unintelligible, muttered curse falling from his lips as he reaches an arm(the one not wrapped around her shoulders) out and smacks the snooze button. Thankfully for him, the alarm is just within reach and he doesn't knock it off the nightstand like he did last time. She lets out a quiet, breathy laugh that fans out over the dip of his collarbone, not yet opening her eyes; instead she buries her face into the crook of his neck, prolonging the inevitable.

Her hand rests just above his heart, curled into a loose fist as a steady rhythm beats under her fingertips; she pretends not to notice how it quickens ever so slightly as she draws circles in the red cotton of his shirt.

She's dreading the moment she has to let go of this, this feeling of being in the right place, to let go of this sense of belonging.

To let go of him.

"We have to get up eventually, you know," he murmurs to her, letting his fingers card through her hair.

"'Eventually' doesn't mean now," she says.

As if on cue, a knock sounds at his door, and Daisy tenses ever so slightly. "Robbie? Are you awake?" Eli says on the other side.

"Yeah, _Tío_ , I'll be right out," Robbie replies, and his uncle's footsteps fade away. Daisy untangles herself from him, sitting up and running a hand through her hair, and he misses her warmth almost instantly. Her eyes drift down to her backpack on the floor, and he can see the gears in her mind turning as she twists the old ring on her finger, the only thing she has left from her birth parents. It was her mother's, she's said.

"What are you thinking?" he asks, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Just….planning out later." R ight. Because as much as they both hate it, she always has to go back. He always feels like he's sending the princess back to the dragon.

"Can you get someone to cover for you?" he asks.

"Grant will do it, or Mary,"she says with a sort of grim certainty. "After that...I'll figure something out."

He trusts that she'll know what to do, but he hates her having such a learned approach to this situation.

"You should go get ready," she says quietly.

He nods. "I think we should let _Tío_ know you're here," he says, and something flickers in her expression.

"I don't want you and your family getting more involved than you all already are, Robbie," she replies.

"He won't ask questions. He hasn't before," Robbie coaxes.

"It's not the questions I'm worried about."

"We won't let anything happen, Daisy. I promise."

She's quiet for a few moments. "Okay," she says, whispers, really. "Just...let me get concealer or something for-" She gestures aimlessly at the bruises on her face.

"Yeah, of course."

She reaches into her backpack, pulling out a small pouch, and they both slide off the bed, and Robbie takes the lead down the hallway, letting Daisy duck into the bathroom on the way.

Gabe's finishing up the last of his homework at the table, and Eli is busy with the coffee maker at the counter, and Robbie makes a beeline for him.

" _Tío,_ I need to tell you something," Robbie says, lowering his voice so that Gabe doesn't hear and think something's wrong.

"What is it?" his uncle replies, pressing the button on the coffee maker. Robbie decides not to beat around the bush.

"Daisy needed a place to stay last night...I brought her here." Eli raises his eyebrows. This isn't exactly the first time, and unfortunately, probably not the last.

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, I just think things got heavy last night, is all."

"Well, if she's already here, we might as well give her a ride, hm?" Eli says, his way of saying that Daisy's presence here isn't a problem.

Robbie cracks a smile at that.

"However, you two do need to be careful," Eli adds. "Especially if she's crashing in your room-"

" _Tío_ , it's not like that," Robbie says, shaking his head.

"Sure. Don't forget, Robbie, I was your age once," Eli says, unconvinced. He glances over his shoulder, and Robbie follows his gaze to see Daisy hanging back in the doorway of the kitchen, arms crossed as if she's trying to shrink. The bruises are less noticeable, but there's nothing they can do about that cut lip.

"Oh, hey, Daisy," Gabe says, not as surprised as one might expect. As stated before, it's not the first time.

"Hi, Gabe," she replies softly.

"Would you like some coffee, Daisy?" Eli offers.

"Thanks, Mr. Morrow, but I'm okay," Daisy replies.

"Come now, _margarita,_ I've told you 'Mr. Morrow' makes me feel old. You can call me Eli," he says genially, making Daisy offer a soft smile along with, "Fair enough," and it's not until Daisy asks Gabe how debate club is going that Robbie thinks about how _right_ it feels for her to be here and not in that hellhole she has to call home for another year.


	3. Chapter 3

Daisy's thankful she doesn't have to wait at the bus stop with her foster siblings anymore, since Robbie and his uncle are willing to go out of their way to pick her up and her apologies for 'being an inconvenience' are always ardently waved away.

It doesn't make it any easier to look Robbie's uncle in the eye. She's not sure why, but there's just this ever-present glow of shame burning in her chest nowadays, even though she knows that nothing's her fault.

There are days when she can't even meet Robbie's gaze without the burn in her chest turning white-hot(with a few other emotions too) at the warmth in his eyes.

She fiddles with the broken strap on her backpack, mind wandering until there's too many scenarios running through her brain and her hands start to tremble slightly. Instead of thinking about the possible near future, she latches onto Gabe, who's telling an all-too-happy-to-listen Eli and Robbie about the robotics club at Carter Academy. She doesn't understand a thing he's saying, but it gives her something to focus on.

She sees the faded sign signaling their arrival at Garfield High and it isn't long until the Charger rolls to a stop in front of the school. As if in sync, the two of them climb out of the Charger and up the sidewalk to the old bricked building, and the black car pulls away as Eli heads in the direction of Gabe's school.

"You should go find Mike and Elena," Daisy suggests, as per their routine, and when Robbie goes to find their friends, she does what she usually does on mornings like this, and heads for the nearest bathroom.

She yanks open the heavy metal door, and it swings shut behind her with a thud as she ducks into a stall, the token largest one, with a sink and purse hook.

She stares into the cracked, fogged mirror above the sink, her hands gripping the chipped porcelain. It won't be much longer, she tells herself. Day by day, until she's clutching her diploma in hand, she can do this.

She runs a hand through her hair, grimacing before reaching into her freakishly overfilled backpack, pulling out a change of clothes and a small pouch of in-case-of-emergency supplies she's risked spending the rare bit of money on: face wipes, dry shampoo, a toothbrush, et cetera.

Sometimes, there are just nights where she doesn't feel safe enough coming out of her room to cross the hall and take a shower.

Occasionally, if she's discreet enough, she'll hazard a shower at Robbie's house, but that's a rare occurrence and not something she can depend on (not to mention a luxury that costs a bit more pride than she wants to give up).

She cleans up the best she can before pulling on the fresher clothes, frowning as she notes that the shirt she swiped from Mary doesn't quite cover her midriff or the dress code. Damn. Being caught violating dress code isn't as likely as she might think, but she'd rather avoid being noticed by the administration as much as possible, so she manages to extricate a hoodie that probably belonged to Robbie at some point from the depths of her backpack and slips it on, zipping it just enough to cover the 'indecent exposure,' thankful that her shorts at least pass the requirements.

Definitely Robbie's hoodie. It still smells like him and the sleeves are too long for her arms.

She doesn't do much in the way of makeup, just dabs on a little more concealer and adds a few swipes of cheap red lipstick in an attempt to hide the cut on her lip, but it only draws more attention, so she scrubs it off and makes up a story to tell if asked.

Rolling back her shoulders, she takes a deep breath. Her name is Daisy Johnson, she's happy, outgoing and lives in a house where she doesn't have to be afraid to leave her room. She's got decent enough foster siblings and can regularly take a shower without having to lock the bathroom door and worry about someone coming in anyway. She's happy she's happy she's _happy._

It might not be true, but she just needs to believe it long enough to make other people believe it.

* * *

Daisy stands a little taller and looks far brighter than she did the night before as she walks up to the table where he sits with Mike Peterson and Elena Rodriguez. He wonders how much of that brightness is faked.

"Look who's finally decided to join us," Elena teases, tossing her braid over her shoulder, and Daisy laughs as she slings the backpack off her shoulder and slides into the seat next to Robbie, and he's 99% sure she's wearing his hoodie, but he lets it go because hey, she looks pretty damn cute.

"What can I say? I'd be lost without my loyal subjects," Daisy retorts, grinning as Elena chucks a paper ball at her head, but Robbie catches it before it ever reaches its intended target.

"If you're the queen, what does that make Robbie?" Elena inquires, shooting Robbie a mock dirty look for foiling her plot.

"My knight in shining armor, obviously."

"Aww," Elena and Mike chorus, and Robbie sends the ball back to Elena, smacking her in the forehead.

"Some knight," Mike comments.

"How was football practice yesterday, Mike?" Robbie changes the subject. "The new assistant coach any better?"

"Oh my God, you would not believe the amount of icebreakers we do. Coach Mace is literally insane, I swear, all he ever says is that stupid motto: 'A team that trusts-"

"'-Is a team that triumphs,'" the rest of them finish.

"Yeah, whatever. I think Coach Garrett is pretty close to telling him where to stick that dumbass saying."

"Football," Elena mutters. "This American version is horrible. So confusing!"

"Well, we can't all be as wonderful as Colombia when it comes to sports," Daisy says loftily, and her smile falters a bit as she looks over to the bus loop, just in time to see the worn yellow bus her foster siblings ride pull up and unload. Robbie's arm settles across her shoulders as Daisy makes a point of focusing the conversation on the science homework, determinedly avoiding the gazes of her foster brothers as they walk by.

They pass, and the tension in her shoulders eases ever so slightly but doesn't go away completely.

He wishes he could make it disappear, but the only solution to that is a school year and a quarter away.

* * *

"You okay, Robbie?" Mike asks, and Daisy glances over to see Robbie nod and look over his shoulder, no doubt keeping an eye on her foster siblings. It's not surprising, really after everything she's told him.

He's the only one she's ever told about what goes on at the Ward household, and even then, he doesn't know everything.

Well, describing the Ward family is difficult...God, where to begin?

Christian, the oldest, is the type of guy you just _knew_ was going to be a serial killer someday, with a perpetual sneer and an intent stare that makes Daisy shrink whenever she's the subject of it. She tries to avoid him, but when he isn't making life hell for his immediate siblings, she's always next.

Grant's next, and he isn't as horrible...maybe. Daisy's never not sure. He's tall, stoic, and acts tough, but Daisy knows he's terrified of Christian, and willing to do a lot of things to avoid getting hurt, even if that meant taking out Christian's frustrations on the others.

She won't lie, the way he looks at her sometimes makes her concern for her safety worse.

Mary comes after and she's Grant's twin, but they're far from close. She and Daisy share a room stays out of the house as much as possible, never talks to anyone, just keeps her head down and gets good grades.

And then there's Thomas, who's had all the light in his eyes pounded out of him before she ever got there, the most common target of Christian's abuse(there's really no other word for it), the one she wishes she could save.

She keeps talking, though, keeps smiling, because at this point she doesn't know what else to do. Really, though, that's all she's been doing for a while.

The bell rings, finally, and they all complain as they get up to go to class, and Daisy wrinkles her nose at the prospect of having math first thing in the morning.

"Save us a seat at lunch, _chica!"_ Elena calls as she heads off, and Mike breaks away in the opposite direction for chemistry, and rather than follow him, Robbie stays with her.

"Aren't you going to go with Mike?" Daisy says, puzzled, since Robbie has the same first class as Mike.

"How about I walk you to pre-calc?" he suggests, and she's not entirely sure why he seems so on edge until she sees that he's glaring past her. She turns just enough to see Grant, standing in front of the school, eyeing them both, no doubt waiting for Robbie to leave so he can talk to her, and Daisy's stomach turns a bit in anxiety.

Still, that doesn't stop her from saying, "I don't want you to be late," because the science wing is on the other side of campus.

"It's not a problem," Robbie says, and she's not willing to argue, since she wants to avoid Grant as much as Robbie does.

"Come on. I don't want _you_ to be late," Robbie says, slipping his hand into hers, and she won't lie and say she doesn't notice the way his grip on her hand tightens a little bit when the walk past Grant, like at any moment Grant might try and rip her away from him.

She doesn't mention it, though, just like Robbie doesn't mention how her hold becomes little stronger at the same time.

* * *

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